June 3, 2016

"... whereas Justice Harlan Stone consumed platters of French cheeses with paired wines... Justice David Souter would eat for lunch 'just… plain… yogurt,' Ginsburg said with perfect delivery. Sotomayor added that sometimes he would have an apple, but Ginsburg maintained that the apple came later in the afternoon..... [T]he Justices eat together when one of them is celebrating a birthday; Chief Justice John Roberts will often bring a bottle of wine on those days... Ginsburg recalled the various foods hunted and prepared by their 'dear colleague,' the late Justice Antonin Scalia: fish, fowl, even 'Bambi,' she joked fondly. Sotomayor told a story in which Justice Stephen Breyer decided to serve his grandchildren pheasant, which Scalia had recently bagged. Afraid that pellets might still be in the bird, the children refused to eat it."

17 comments:

Justice Breyer missed an important educational opportunity with his kids. Pheasant makes a wonderful dish, and is worth the possibility - or the actuality - of discovering a pellet of birdshot in the meat, during the meal.

Of course, if they ate the bird they couldn't signal their moral superiority over us mere pheasant-eaters, could they?

OK, Brandeis outlived Harlan Stone by 10 years. So there is something to this, sad as I am to see the deficiencies of a cheese diet. But facts are facts and needs must. This requires a modification of policy. All Republican nominees henceforth will be required to commit to a diet plan, to maximize their tenure.

"Of course, if they ate the bird they couldn't signal their moral superiority over us mere pheasant-eaters, could they?"

Yes and I'll bet they don't know that more pheasants in South Dakota are killed by cars than by hunters.

A pheasant almost got even one morning in 1959 as I was driving to Washington state about 5 AM. Fortunately, he hit near the top of the windshield. As I was going 100 mph at the time and he hit right in front of the driver seat, I was very lucky.

That being said some people enjoy better health than others simply because of their genetic heritage. To attribute one's good health to a spinach leaf and two slices of whole wheat bread is scientifically ludicrous.

A pheasant almost got even one morning in 1959 as I was driving to Washington state about 5 AM.

I had a similar experience. One late afternoon I was returning from the stables when I hit an adult mallard drake with my GMC pickup. The bird flew up from the river with his mate and crossed over the road in front of me just three feet above the pavement. I hit him with the grillwork and his limp body passed over the truck and landed on the road behind me. I stopped and ran back to see the poor fellow flapping desperately on the asphalt but unable to get airborne. I scooped him up and took him home. Examining him I noticed his legs were totally limp, which wasn't a good sign. Nevertheless I decided to give him a chance to recover on the hypothesis that his problem was shock. I gave him water, food, and a folded towel to lie on.

The next morning he was dead, but still warm. So I decided to roast him for my Irish Wolfhound. After plucking the carcass clean I saw the impact had caused a compound fracture of the spine, so the poor mallard was utterly doomed from the moment we hit. He cooked up nicely, but his flesh was quite dark, and the drippings didn't smell very tempting. The dog ate him up without a scrap remaining, but I decided I wasn't missing anything by not sitting in a blind with a 12 gauge.

There was a great line from, I think, Ginsburg in another version of this same story, which I cannot find now. Justice Ginsburg said that they dined much better when Scalia was still alive, because "We ate all kinds of things that Antonin killed." Knowing they were great friends, I think perhaps this was delivered with her well known humor.

it doesn't seem to appear in the popular on-line locations, so perhaps it was edited out.